From the National Archives website:

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson’s most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in “self-evident truths” and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

To our troops in harm’s way, thank you for your service. To your families back home, thank you for your sacrifice.

Let freedom ring!

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1. Thanks for posting this. It’s good for all of us to be reminded of why we celebrate this day, our Independence Day. Let Freedom ring, indeed!

   Posted by  on  07/04/08  at  09:32 AM

2. Okay, I’ve not been reading for a few days.... but still I have to “comment.”

   Quotation marks?!  Oh dear.  Doesn’t Taranto call them “scare” marks? Is this postmodernism from the archives?  Really, look, quotation marks on “self-evident truths.” :sigh:

   Posted by  on  07/06/08  at  10:16 AM

3. You know, I never noticed those scare quotes. Interesting.

   Uncle Bill?

   Posted by  on  07/06/08  at  06:57 PM

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